1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a form for manufacturing a resin mold for molding an ultraviolet-curable resin which is poured therein by exposure to ultraviolet radiation, and a clamping jig for clamping such a resin mold.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, product development projects include a stage for manufacturing replicas of a new product for the purpose of making various appraisals of its qualities such as appearances, etc. One well known process of producing replicas is a vacuum casting method which employs a matrix of silicone rubber. According to this method, a master model as a pattern for producing replicas is formed, and then embedded in a thermosetting liquid silicone rubber compound. Then, after the thermosetting liquid silicone rubber compound is vulcanized, the master model is removed, and a thermosetting resin is poured into the mold cavity that has been created in the thermosetting liquid silicone rubber compound. The poured thermosetting resin is cured with heat, producing a replica.
To meet demands for forming replicas quickly, there has been proposed a process of producing replicas as disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 3-11471, for example. The disclosed process employs a mold made of a transparent RTV (room-temperature-vulcanizable) silicone rubber compound. An ultraviolet-curable liquid resin such as an epoxy resin or an acrylic reactive resin is poured into the mold, and then cured into a replica by exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
The conventional process disclosed in the above publication is disadvantageous in that it is considerably time-consuming to produce the molded replica, and hence fails to satisfy user's demands for a quick overall period required from the designing of a master model until appraisals of the replica.
The applicant has proposed a process of simply and quickly producing a replica by generating a master model, forming a matrix of silicone rubber based on the master model, and pouring a resin into the matrix, as disclosed in Japanese patent application No. 8-274068.
According to the above proposed process, a matrix having a cavity complementary in shape to a replica to be formed is constructed of a vulcanized body of transparent photo-setting liquid silicon rubber compound, and a photo-setting liquid resin is poured into the cavity in the matrix. Light emitted from a light source outside of the matrix is applied to the photo-setting liquid resin through the matrix for thereby curing the photo-setting liquid resin into a replica.